Two men in custody after taxi driver robbed at knifepoint

Wheaton, Rockville men arrested for North Potomac incident

Two men are in custody after a taxi driver was robbed at knifepoint in the early morning hours of Jan. 25 in North Potomac, according to a statement from Montgomery County police.

Valiant Rodriguez, 25, of the unit block of Crownwood Court in Rockville, and Yera Basnueva, 26, of the 2900 block of Schoolhouse Drive in Wheaton, were charged with armed robbery and first-degree assault, according to the police statement.

According to police, Rodriguez and Basnueva got in a Regency taxi at the Shady Grove Metro station around 1:17 a.m. and asked to be driven to the Travilah Shopping Center. When they arrived at the center, the suspects asked the driver, a male, to continue driving. When the taxi reached the area of Travilah Road and Potomac Oaks Drive, one of the men announced a robbery and showed the driver a knife, police said.

The two suspects stole cash and fled on foot, police said. The taxi driver wasn't hurt during the incident.

According to Lt. Paul Starks, a police spokesman, police were called to Shady Grove Metro earlier that evening on the report of a man acting suspiciously. Another taxi driver had placed the call, Starks said. When officers arrived to investigate, officers identified Rodriguez as the person who was acting suspiciously. The officers recorded his name and description through a field interrogation, though there was no cause for an arrest, Starks said.

Later, officers determined that Rodriguez's description matched that of the suspect who robbed the taxi driver. Police later determined that Basnueva had allegedly been with Rodriguez at the time of the crime.

"Police were called, we responded and acted appropriately, then communicated effectively later when this person did follow through and do something," Starks said.

Rodriguez and Basnueva are each being held on $250,000 bond at the Montgomery County Detention Center.